Semifinals: (10) Fabrizio Anteri vs. (22) William Jensen

As is not unusual with a Grand Prix the weekend before the Pro Tour in the same region, the Top 8 was stacked with talent. This semifinal match exemplified that, as it pitted two players from the Top 25 Magic Rankings against one another.

"I'll play first," Jensen said as he had the higher seed after the Swiss rounds. "Can we do this as a football match, where you choose the table side if you don't get to choose who plays," Anteri joked.

"They used to do it that way at the Pro Tour!" Jensen replied. "To prevent everyone from running into the Top 8 area and claiming their preferred seat first, you got to choose either which table side you wanted to sit at or whether you wanted to play first or draw first. I think it only happened once that someone chose the table side, though."

Game 1

Although Jensen played first, Anteri was the first to add creatures to the battlefield, with Gibbering Fiend on turn two and Howlpack Wolf on turn three. Jensen then showed that he favored toughness over power with an Inquisitor's Ox on turn four.

But Anteri kept pushing his advantage, showing that blocking may be a losing proposition in this format. When Jensen blocked the 2/1 with his 2/5, Anteri had Spiteful Motives to punish him for that. And when Jensen cast Throttle on Howpack Wolf (which had grown into a 4/4 due to Inspiring Captain) Anteri had Rush of Adrenaline to save his creature, which prompted Jensen to scoop up his cards in defeat.

Fabrizio Anteri 1 – William Jensen 0

Game 2

The second game was much slower, as Jensen had removal spells for Anteri's early creatures to keep the board clear and to stay at a high life total.